A spokeswoman for the firm told Bloomberg the move was "in
response to client demand."

The company has allowed users to invest in the new market via
long positions, requiring a larger down payment for trades than
the standard required by Cboe. It is one of the largest players
in the market, so far.

"Interactive Brokers has a few requirements for shorting bitcoin
futures: the spread must be one-to-one, and the short leg must
have the earlier expiry date so that once it expires the
surviving leg will be long," Bloomberg reported.

Big Wall Street banks have been more cautious, showing no
indication of entering the market in the short term. JPMorgan and
Citigroup, two of the largest futures brokers, are not clearing
trades for its clients.

A person familiar with JPMorgan's operations told Business
Insider the firm didn't want to be in the market on day one,
citing concerns about liquidity and too much risk being placed on
clearing houses if the bitcoin market blows up. When there's
enough volumes, the bank might consider dipping its toes into the
market.

Cryptocurrency hype has reached peak levels, with coins across
the market hitting new highs on a daily basis and cryptocurrency
exchanges under pressure to meet spiking demand from more and
more users. Bitcoin broke through $17,500 on Tuesday and the
entire market for digital coins was close to $500 billion.